Broward BSIP
Margate’s Building Department tells affected owners by certified letter and takes the engineers’ reports through ProjectDox. One team delivers the complete BSIP inspection and report, structural and electrical.
- Engineer
- Juan Tercero, PE., M.Sc. · Florida PE 105256
Your city
How the Building Safety Inspection Program runs in Margate
In Margate the Building Safety Inspection Program (BSIP) is handled by the City of Margate Building Department, which reviews each report it receives. The city’s program page explains the letter and the review and links the ProjectDox upload, and it hosts two documents of Margate’s own: a question sheet on failed reports and an agreement for incidental repairs. This is what those pages say; the county’s deadlines come in the rows further down.
- The notice
- Margate’s program page says that an owner whose property the program affects will receive a certified letter with information about what has to be done. The page names no other way the city announces that a building is due, so the letter is the document to keep at hand.
- Filing the report
- The reports reach the city electronically. Margate’s program page links ProjectDox as the place to apply and to upload the structural and electrical engineer reports, and the city’s ProjectDox page says an account is created there, or an existing one used, before anything is sent.
- The forms
- Margate’s question sheet puts a report filed on something other than the Broward County form first among the usual reasons a report fails. The structural and electrical report forms are on the city’s permit forms page; the structural one says it rests on the minimum inspection guidelines of the Broward County Board of Rules and Appeals.
- Common reasons it fails
- After the wrong form, Margate’s sheet lists boxes left unchecked, and a seal that is not clear or comes without an original signature. Those are cured with a corrected page uploaded through ProjectDox. A report that records structural or electrical deficiencies also counts as failed until the repairs are made.
- After review
- Margate’s page says the Building Department reviews the reports. A building found safe needs no other Building Safety Inspection until its next cycle; when the report shows structural or electrical deficiencies, the owner obtains the permits and finishes the repairs within the time given in “If repairs are needed”.
- Repairs and permits
- Margate’s sheet insists on permits. The owner hires a licensed contractor, who applies for them — the owner cannot pull the permit and do the work, and a handyman may not repair a roof, stucco or rotted door frames without one. Once the permits for the repairs pass final inspection, a new report goes up through ProjectDox stating that no repairs are required.
- Incidental repairs
- For repairs that are incidental and not life-threatening, Margate has its own Incidental Repair Agreement. The architect or engineer gives a completion date, the owner signs to acknowledge it, the Building Official approves the time frame, and the form is notarized. When those are the only repairs, the report filed with it must still state that no repairs are required.
- Site visit and close-out
- Once repairs are done, Margate’s sheet says the Building Department visits the site to make sure the work was completed in accordance with the Florida Building Code. A final report from the architect or engineer is then required to complete what the sheet calls the Safety Inspection Certification.
Building office City of Margate Building Department 901 NW 66th Avenue Margate, FL 33063 Phone: (954) 970-3004
Read on the website of the City of Margate Building Department:
When it applies
The deadlines that apply in Margate
The schedule is the Broward County Board of Rules and Appeals’, printed here for a building in Margate; the date on your own notice is the one that counts.
- First due in Margate: At 25 years, counted from the certificate of occupancy.
- Then in Margate: Every 10 years.
- Time to file in Margate: 180 days from receiving the Notice of Required Inspection. Older guides still say 90 days; the policy in force since August 9, 2024 gives 180. Your city’s letter states its own date.
- If repairs are needed in Margate: 180 days from the date of the report, under permit, unless the Building Official sets a different time.
- Condominiums & co-ops in Margate: The BSIP report serves as phase one and phase two of the state milestone inspection.
Broward County’s rows, for Margate. Source: Broward County Board of Rules and Appeals, Policy #05-05 · Florida Building Code, Broward County Amendments, Section 110.15 · Last verified:
Questions & answers
Questions boards in Margate ask
Who tells a Margate owner that the BSIP applies to the building?
The city does, by certified letter: Margate’s page says the owner of an affected property receives one, with information on what to do. Questions about the program go to the Building Department, whose page lists a chief structural inspector among the contacts it names for it. Send us the letter — a photo from your phone works — and we read what the city wants and by when.
How do we file the BSIP reports in Margate?
Online, through ProjectDox: Margate’s program page links it as the place to apply and upload the structural and electrical engineer reports, and the city’s question sheet sends corrected pages the same way. The reports go on Broward County’s structural and electrical forms, which the city’s permit forms page carries; the sheet says a letter in their place will not be adequate.
Why would Margate treat a BSIP report as failed?
Margate’s question sheet gives the usual reasons: the Broward County form was not used, boxes were left unchecked, the seal is unclear or the original signature is missing, or the report lists structural or electrical deficiencies. The first three are corrected with a new page uploaded to ProjectDox; the last only with permitted repairs and a new report.
Does Margate make a building meet today’s code during the BSIP?
No, according to the city’s sheet: the program is a safety inspection of the condition of the structure and of the electrical system, to establish that what exists is safe. The same answer warns that certain repairs may have to be made to the current code. Emergency lights and fire alarms, it adds, are settled at the Margate Fire Department’s annual inspection.
How long does a Margate owner have for BSIP repairs?
Margate’s page counts the repair time from the date of the report and covers both obtaining the permits and finishing the work; the time itself is the county’s, in “If repairs are needed”. Repairs the professional rates as incidental and not life-threatening may follow the later date written into the city’s Incidental Repair Agreement, once the Building Official approves it.
One team
The complete BSIP inspection and report for a building in Margate
Next step
Send us Margate’s certified letter — a picture taken with your phone will do — or, if none has come yet, the building’s address and the year on its certificate of occupancy. We check it against what the Building Department’s pages ask for and come back with a proposal for the complete BSIP inspection and report.
Next step
A county notice in your hand, a building that worries you or a new project — describe it and attach what you have. A phone photo of the letter is enough. You hear back from the engineer, with questions or with a written proposal.
The proposal is free. We usually reply within two hours.